Market and Capacity Development

The capacity growth in the Scandinavian market has accelerated during the spring of 2018. The higher capacity growth is expected to continue during the summer and the remainder of 2018.

In line with the seasonally increasing demand, SAS grew its capacity on both business and more leisure-oriented routes in June. Towards the end of June, SAS predominantly adapted its network to the seasonally very high demand for leisure travel. The capacity increase was well absorbed with higher load factors compared to last year. The underlying yield and PASK also improved versus last year.

In fiscal year 2017/2018, SAS plans to increase capacity (ASK) by around 1–3%, driven by longer European routes and additional seats on the new Airbus A320neo.

Scheduled Traffic Development

The number of passengers increased by 2.6% vs. June last year. SAS increased the scheduled capacity by 1.5% and the traffic increased by 2.8% vs. last year, resulting in a 1 p.p. improvement in the load factor.

The capacity on SAS’ intercontinental routes was reduced by 1.7% vs. last year, as one aircraft has been phased out of traffic. Despite this, the traffic increased by 2.2% vs. last year. The development was particularly positive on the routes to/from the United States.

The traffic on SAS’ European/Intrascandinavian routes increased by 4.9% vs. last year. The growth was strongest on the European routes to/from Sweden and Denmark.

The traffic on SAS’ domestic routes decreased by 1.5%, while the capacity was down 0.1%. The lower traffic in relation to capacity is mainly explained by a slightly lower load factor in the Norwegian domestic market.